Tesla CEO Elon Musk outlined how his attention is now squarely back at Tesla after making his $1 billion TSLA stock purchase. Meanwhile, China vehicle insurance registrations continue to lag behind last year, with only a slight uptick last week in new Model Ys, according to the latest data.
Elon Musk Gets Back To Work
Fresh off regulatory filings on Monday showing Musk made his first purchase on the open market since February 2020, scooping up Tesla stock at various prices in 26 separate purchases Friday, Musk posted to X early Tuesday that he is back to focusing his time and energy on Tesla.
Musk said he was "burning the midnight oil" Friday with the Optimus humanoid robot engineering team before taking part in "deep technical reviews" Saturday for the planned Tesla AI5 chip. Musk has said the AI5 chip will be integral for upcoming products and integrated artificial intelligence.
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The Tesla CEO also said that on Monday he walked Tesla's Memphis-based Colossus II data center and reviewed transformer and power production progress.
"Then up to 12 hours of back to back meetings across all Tesla departments, but particular focus on AI/Autopilot, Optimus production plans and vehicle production/delivery," Musk said Tuesday.
Musk's decision to publicly outline his Tesla work schedule comes after a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing dated Monday showed Musk purchased more than 2.5 million shares of Tesla for prices ranging from 371.90 to 396.36. The total is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion.
In between Musk's recent Tesla work, he found time to address a nationalist protest in London via video on Saturday, saying the U.K. needs "revolutionary government change."
Tesla China EV Registrations
Tesla insurance registrations in China totaled 15,350 for the week of Sept. 8-14, up more than 7% from 14,300 the previous week, according to data compiled by independent China auto industry trackers.
That total was the highest so far in the third quarter and includes 9,460 Model Ys, 1,030 of the newly released six-seat Model Y L and 4,860 Model 3 registrations. There were 894 registrations of the longer-wheelbase Model Y L the prior week.
Tesla Model Y sales in China continued to fall last month. Model Y retail sales in China came in at 39,413 in August, down 13% compared to a year ago, according to data compiled by CnEVPost from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Eleven weeks into Q3, Tesla registrations in China, a rough gauge for deliveries, are up around 30% compared to last quarter but have dropped 11% vs. a year ago. So far this year, Tesla vehicle registrations in China have declined 7%.
Tesla reports third-quarter global vehicle deliveries in early October and Q3 earnings on Oct. 21. Analyst consensus has global Tesla Q3 vehicle deliveries coming in around 442,000, according to FactSet. That would be about 15% above the second-quarter total but still down more than 4% vs. Q3 2024. Few analysts have updated Q3 delivery targets since late July, however.
Tesla deliveries should be strong in Q3 as the U.S. tax credit expires on Sept. 30. After that, deliveries are likely to fall significantly in the U.S.
Tesla Stock Performance
TSLA advanced around 1% to 414.40 at Tuesday's stock market open. The stock jumped as high as 425.70 on Monday, the highest since late January, before settling for a 3.6% gain to 410.04 at the close.
Last week, Tesla stock spiking 12.9% to 395.94, racing past a consolidation buy point of 367.71, according to MarketSurge charts.
At this point, investors looking to start a position should see if Tesla pulls back or perhaps forges a handle to a consolidation going back to end of last year.
Tesla Analysts Mixed On Musk Stock Buy
William Blair analyst Jed Dorsheimer on Monday wrote that Musk's TSLA purchases "partly explains the move in shares on Friday" and is pushing shares higher Monday.
"We see this as a clear signal of confidence from Musk. The market has looked through our concerns over how margins will react to the elimination of environmental tax credit revenue in the second half of this year. With Musk's purchase, combined with the upward momentum for delivery expectations and robotaxi rollout, we are becoming more bullish but retaining our Market Perform rating," Dorsheimer wrote.
Meanwhile, CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson on Monday downgraded Tesla stock to a sell from a previous hold rating.
"We believe the stock's valuation has become decoupled from fair value and underlying fundamentals. We think the Street's estimates will be revised lower in the coming months as the bottom line impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill become more apparent," Nelson wrote, adding that his concerns are "more centered on the expected impacts on TSLA's auto regulatory credit revenue.
"While news of CEO Elon Musk's $1 (billion) stock purchase sends a positive signal to investors, we view it as more of vote of confidence in TSLA longer term (a duration longer than the 12-month time frame that is the basis of our price target). We think Musk's acknowledgment of the possibility of 'a few rough quarters' ahead on the last earnings call should not be taken lightly," the analyst added.
Investors can keep tabs on the IBD Leaderboard watchlist, the IBD 50 list of top growth stocks and IBD SwingTrader along with the IBD Sector Leaders list.
Tesla stock has a 75 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The stock also has an 89 Relative Strength Rating and a 53 EPS Rating.
Please follow Kit Norton on X @KitNorton for more coverage.
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